


SNAFU

by Denise



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-26
Updated: 2014-01-26
Packaged: 2018-01-10 04:09:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1154711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Denise/pseuds/Denise
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After going under cover all SG1 wants is for things to get back to normal, too bad the world has other ideas</p>
            </blockquote>





	SNAFU

 

Jack walked through the halls of the SGC and not even the events of the past month could diminish how great he felt to be back.

Normal. That’s what he wanted now, normal. And he didn’t care if ‘normal’ meant going to some back water planet and sleeping on the ground. He didn’t care of normal meant running from Jaffa or spending a whole briefing listening to Daniel ramble on about some artifact. With Edora and then the renegades, the last few months had been hell. And all he wanted was to get back to normal.

Nice, boring, predictable, normal.

He just had a few more things to do and he could put the whole mess behind him and get back to work.  
He arrived at the general’s office and knocked on the door, more as a courtesy than waiting for an invitation. He and General Hammond had an appointment.

“This is one reason I really hate doing black ops,” Jack said as he walked into Hammond’s office. He handed the man a sheaf of paper. “There’s something about the futility and total waste for me to write reports that will be redacted into a massive collection of thick black lines.”

Hammond snorted softly and motioned for Jack to take a seat. “I take it you’re through with your interrogations.”

Jack sighed. “As through as we can be.” He shrugged. “Some talked, some kept their mouths shut. The forensic folks will be digging through computers and phone records for a while, but I think we’ve dug out all we can.”

“It’s been a long two weeks,” Hammond said.

“You can bill Thor for my over time,” Jack quipped.

“I can’t say his has exactly been our finest hour,” Hammond said, folding his hands on his desk blotter.

“They were sneaky,” Jack said. “Hell, Makepeace pulled the wool over Teal’c’s eyes, and trust me, that isn’t easy.”

Hammond shrugged. “Regardless, we’re going to do a little house cleaning of our own.” 

Jack raised his eyebrows. “Dare I ask, sir?”

“With the exception of SG-1, we’re going to rearrange the SG teams. No more than two members will be allowed to remain on each team.”

“General, with all due respect, are you sure that’s necessary?” He shook his head. “There’s a massive amount of trust needed between the members of an off world team. You throw these people together; we’re going to have paranoid team members at odds with each other. Not to mention, sir….don’t take this the wrong way, but it’d be relatively easy to fake a Jaffa attack off world, murder a couple of team mates, come back and we’d never know the difference. And if I know that, other teams know it too.”

Jack didn’t mention that it was one of his worst case scenarios in the past couple of weeks. The horrible ‘what if’ of his team having more than just Makepeace on it. What if Makepeace had partners, what if Carter or Daniel had seen Makepeace drop off the Tiernod device. What if Makepeace had tried to keep his secret…at any cost.

He shook his head. “With all due respect, sir, breaking up the teams will just make things worse. You can already feel the paranoia in the air.”

Hammond sighed. “Jack, two other members of SG-3 have been implicated, suggesting that the whole team participated in the thefts, in at least some way. And, no doubt, covered for each other as well.”

“Just like they’d cover for each other if someone ‘accidentally’ got left behind,” Jack said. “What if we merged teams?” Jack suggested. “Run some missions with teams of eight. They can keep an eye on each other, and still have enough manpower for backup if needed.”

“I’ll take that under advisement,” Hammond said. “We have one last matter to deal with, Jack. It is that time of the year again.”

Jack shook his head. “The playoffs aren’t until next month.”

“The annual evacuation drill,” Hammond said.

Jack groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. “You couldn’t have done that while I was…away?”

“Saved it until you made it back,” Hammond said. “Besides, if we do it now, while all teams are home and the infirmary is empty, only Walter and I need to stay behind as support staff. The drill is at 1300. Walter and I will remain to keep an eye on the gate; you will be in charge of roll call on the surface. Once everyone is accounted for, log the time and send them back down.”

“My knees thank you,” Jack said.

Hammond nodded. “It’s an unannounced drill,” he said as Jack go to his feet. “So when you tell your team, I’d appreciate if they kept it to themselves.”

“You wound me, General,” Jack said, smiling at his superior officer as he got to his feet.

Hammond waved a dismissal and Jack left the room, a few seconds of familiar banter doing more to improve his mood than he really wanted to admit. Of course he was going to give his team a heads up. What team leader wouldn’t? You don’t want your people caught with their pants down – possibly literally – when you’re going to be graded on your response time.

He whistled through his teeth as he glanced at his watch. This time of the morning, SG-1 would be in Carter’s lab. He made his way to the elevator and summoned the car. It arrived and he got in, ignoring the faint tension that coiled in his gut. True, they had settled their differences, but there was still something there, a tiny shadow of betrayal that had yet to fade. Teal’c totally got the whole undercover thing. Carter grudgingly accepted it, although she still had that ‘freeze you with a glance’ glare upon occasion. Daniel, oh he had his moments. To Jack’s mind, he alternated between peeved and annoyed.

No matter how he felt, it was done and over…now they all just needed to get past it and move on. Which was another reason Jack wanted an off-world mission. The elevator stopped on level 21 and Jack got out. He ambled into Carter’s lab, relieved when there was no awkward ‘just stopped talking’ silence.

“Good morning, campers,” he said.

“Sir.”

“O’Neill.”

“Jack.” The three of them were gathered around Sam’s work table. Carter and Daniel had two steaming mugs of coffee in front of them, Teal’c stood with his hands clasped behind his back.

“Are the interrogations over, sir, or are you just taking a break?” Carter asked.

“All done,” Jack said. “Or as done as they can be.”

“Anyone else going to get dragged out in handcuffs?” Daniel said, picking up his mug to take a sip.

Jack shook his head. “Not that I know of…and if I did you don’t want to know about it.”

“Any idea when we’ll resume off world ops?” Carter asked.

“Another week or so, maybe,” Jack said. “In the meantime, we do have the joy of an evac drill.”

“I do not see the appeal in a warrior perfecting their skills at retreating,” Teal’c said. 

“It’s part of that whole live to fight another day thing we have going,” Jack said.

“We’re not going to be climbing up the escape shaft are we?” Daniel asked. “Cause that’s going to be an issue for Sam.”

“Carter?”

She sheepishly held up her left hand, revealing a white bandage. “Little accident working on my bike,” she said. “I took it out for a spin this morning and it was running rough, so I decided to give the carburetor a tweak and quite stupidly laid my hand against the manifold.”

“Ouch.”

She shrugged. “It wasn’t going to be that big of a deal since we’re not going off world for a while.”

“And now we’re going to have to climb up however many ladder rungs,” Daniel said.

“Two hundred and eighty-five,” Carter said. Jack looked at her. “I counted,” she shrugged.

“Why don’t you skip it,” Jack said impulsively.

“Sir?”

“Of anyone on this base, you know the escape hatch. I’ll clear it with Hammond. Him and Walter are manning the gate room anyway. When the alarm goes off, you hang out in your lab and no one will know the difference.”

“I could keep her company,” Daniel suggested.

“Nice try,” Jack said.

“I can make it, Colonel,” Carter said. “It’s not necessary for me to stay behind.”

Jack shook his head. “No need to torture yourself for the sake of a drill.”

“Daniel Jackson and I shall compete to maintain SG-1’s honor,” Teal’c said.

“It’s not a race,” Daniel said. “Is it?” he looked at Jack.

Jack stared for a second then shook his head slightly. “Thirteen hundred, which is a secret, so don’t go telling anyone.” He looked towards Carter. “Should take a couple hours at the most.”

“Yes, sir.”

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

The evacuation klaxon blasted into life and Sam jumped. She glanced at the door to make sure that it was closed and sighed, hoping to calm the adrenaline in her veins. She got up from her chair and stretched, wincing as she bumped her injured hand.

That was definitely not one of her brighter moments. In fact, it was pretty danged stupid. She knew better, still hadn’t stopped her from laying her hand down just where it shouldn’t have been. All in all, it wasn’t all that bad, barely a second degree burn, but it did sting. And it did make using her hand a fairly uncomfortable thing to do. Not to mention climbing a long ladder that comes out on the top of the mountain…an experience that she’d be happy to not repeat.

She knew that there was a part of her that should mind the fact that she wasn’t participating in the drill. She’d never been one to like special treatment. And that was exactly what some people would call it. But she also wasn’t in the ‘go-go-rah-rah’ mood at the moment, as the colonel would say.

Why the hell should she be all ‘go team go’ when that very same team had so let her down?

And she wasn’t talking about the rest of SG-1, but the SGC as a whole. Was she peeved at the colonel’s undercover assignment? Maybe. But not for the reason some would assume. She understood him doing it. She understood why and how. Orders were orders and you followed them. Especially when the stakes were as high as they were with the rogues. The part that really got to her was that she hadn’t figured it out. 

After three years she should know him better than that. She should have been able to read him, see through his mask and know that there was something going on. She should have seen through the act and the attitude and the lies.

She was angry at herself, angry at her own stupidity. The rogues had fooled her, fooled them all. And being fooled by her own CO just rubbed salt in the wound of betrayal.

She shook her head and sighed. She needed to get over it. Move on. Bigger and better things….and all those stupid clichés.

Work. She needed to work. Work calmed her mind and tamed her emotions. Work was the way to inner peace, or at least less inner chaos. And she was looking towards an unprecedented couple hours of total peace and quiet. She turned on the radio and let the music serenade her back to work.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

An hour later she looked up. Everyone should be out and she figured she’d have thirty minutes to an hour before they started to trickle back down. So if she wanted to take a break she should probably do it now, before she ran into people in the hall who would question why she hadn’t participated in the drill.  
She got to her feet and opened the door, taking a moment to absorb the silence of her surroundings. 

She couldn’t remember the base ever being so quiet. Even in those first few days of the SGC opening there had always been noise. People talking and working. The constant thump of boots on the cement. Even at 0300 there was noise.

All she could hear at the moment was the dull drone of ventilation fans. Finding the silence refreshing, she made her way to the nearest restroom and took a few minutes to relieve and refresh herself.

As she stared in the mirror she made plans for the evening. Maybe a stop at the grocery store and some fried chicken from the deli. An early evening in her sweats with comfort food, a movie and a beer sounded like a good time at the moment.

The faint ding of the elevator arriving pulled her from her planning and she muttered a curse under her breath. She’d hoped to make it to the commissary and back before people returned. She knew she didn’t need to sneak, and she certainly had permission to skip the drill but she couldn’t deny the feeling that the less people that knew about her exemption the better.

Deciding to discreetly slip back to her lab she made her way to the bathroom door. Hearing voices, she opened the door a crack, planning to wait until they were out of sight then slip back down the hall. She caught sight of the two people and frowned, unease tugging at the back of her neck. She didn’t recognize them.

“Who the hell are you?” she whispered, wondering if there had been a part of the drill that the colonel hadn’t told them about.

“The stuff’s in storeroom 2124,” one of the men said. He held up a keycard. “This will get us in and we have twenty minutes to get it to the gate before folks start coming back down.”

“We’d have more time if it hadn’t taken so long to get down here,” the second one groused.

The first one shrugged. “They beefed up security. Nothing we can do. We just have to get this done and out of here before they get too impatient up top.”

Sam held her breath as the two men walked past, waiting until they turned the corner before she slipped out of the rest room. She made her way back to her lab, trying to manage stealth and speed in and empty corridor with no cover and cement walls that now seemed to echo every sound.

She made it to the relative safety of her lab and barely took a moment to sigh in relief before her mind started to race. They had to be left over rogues, there was no other explanation…and anyway, the why didn’t matter as much as the fact that there were strangers here that didn’t belong and they were trying to get stuff off world and that was not going to happen. Not if she had anything to say about it. 

I’ll clear it with Hammond. Him and Walter are manning the gate room anyway. When the alarm goes off, you hang out in your lab and no one will know the difference.

“Crap,” she muttered. The general was in the gate room. She pushed her hand through her hair and made her decision in a moment. If they were trying to smuggle something through the gate they had to be stopped. 

Listening for the two men, she slipped out of her lab and into the stairwell. She made her way down to level 27. She had no idea if they were alone or had co-conspirators but she needed weapons and those weapons were in the armory.

Using her keycard she accessed the locked room and retrieved her weapon along with a tranquilizer rifle, all the while her ears strained to hear any sign of the intruders. 

Her goal the control room, she left the armory, drawing on every bit of combat experience she possessed to get there undetected. She slipped into the conference room, careful to keep away from the large windows overlooking the gate room. The general’s office was empty but a quick glance confirmed her worse fears, the gate was active and the iris open.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

The sun was bright and the gentle breeze carried with it the faint scent of pine. It was peaceful and slightly idyllic and Jack was bored out of his skull. The personnel milling around shot him inquisitive looks and Jack just shrugged, ignoring their unasked question. He glanced at his watch and glared at Daniel.  
“Don’t look at me, you’re the one in charge here,” Daniel said. 

“Indeed, O’Neill. In the past, this futile endeavor has been completed in a much more efficient fashion.”

Jack shrugged. “I’m waiting for the all clear from Hammond,” he said.

“You know, it kind of defeats the whole secrecy thing to have a couple hundred people out in the open like this,” Daniel said.

“Daniel…”

“I’m just sayin’,” his friend shrugged.

Jack rolled his eyes but reached for the walkie anyway. “O’Neill to Hammond.” He drummed his fingers on his thigh, waiting for the response. As the seconds ticked by a feeling of unease bubbled up in his gut. “O’Neill to Hammond,” he repeated.

“Should General Hammond not respond?” Teal’c asked.

Jack glared at his friend and walked back to the emergency hatch. “Open it up, sergeant,” Jack said to the man standing by the metal hatch.

“Sir? We have the all clear?”

“Radio trouble,” Jack said, holding up the walkie. “I’m going to go down and verify that we’re clear.”

The man paused, as if he was going to challenge Jack, then he shrugged. “Yes, sir.”

“Get these people off the side of the mountain and down by the front door,” Jack ordered.

“Yes, sir.”

Jack opened the hatch and climbed in. He looked up at Teal’c and Daniel. “You two gonna go down the easy way or the hard way?”

“I shall accompany you, O’Neill.”

“Yeah, me too,” Daniel said. “Largely because you’ll never stop reminding me that I didn’t,” he said, his voice lower but still loud enough to hear.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

“Son of a bitch,” Sam muttered, the shimmering blue of the open wormhole filling her with dread instead of the normal anticipation and wonder. Mentally switching to battle mode she checked her weapons, adrenaline making the burn on her hand nothing more than an annoyance. She played out the layout of the control room in her brain.

Going down the stairs was out. No matter how lightly she walked she’d be a sitting duck descending the spiral staircase. Same thing going in through the main door. That short flight of stairs would give her a bit of cover but not nearly enough, especially when she had no idea how many people were in the room.

That left the ‘back door’. A corridor off the far edge of the room that was rarely used. Her decision made, she slipped out of the briefing room and down the hall, making her way to a little used set of stairs that went down to level 28.

She had years of familiarity with the SGC and she could only hope that the hostiles did not.

He senses on full alert, she eased out of the stairwell and crept toward the control room. She could hear voices and paused for a second, trying to figure out how many people were in the room. Had to be at least two, maybe three.

Taking a breath she stepped forward, moving as close to the wall as she could. She slipped around the door frame soundlessly, melting into the shadows. ‘One target,’ she tallied, grateful to see only one person standing while the general and Walter knelt on the floor. Even from this distance she could see the general’s anger in the set of his shoulders.

She raised the tranquilizer rifle to her shoulder and fired. The dart buried itself in the hostile’s shoulder and he slumped to the floor. She hurried forward, rolling the man onto his back and checking him for weapons.

“Major Carter, I thought you were up top,” Walter said, helping Hammond to his feet.

“I stayed behind. The colonel was supposed to—“

“He didn’t, but I really don’t care at the moment,” Hammond interrupted. “ Shut down that gate,” he ordered Walter. “What’s the situation?” he asked her as he took off his neck tie, handing it to Sam so that she could tie the hands of the hostile.

“I’m not sure, sir. I saw two men up on 21. They were taking things out of one of the store rooms and said they needed to get them there to get it through the gate.”

As she spoke the gate shut down and the iris spun into place.

“So we have at least three hostiles, possibly more, seemingly with the intent to use the stargate to smuggle tech or artifacts off world,” Hammond said. He picked the walkie up off the counter.  
“Hammond to O’Neill?” Sam rummaged through her captive’s pocket, searching for some clue to his identity. “Hammond to O’Neill,” the general repeated.

“Communications down?” Sam asked, getting to her feet to stand behind Walter.

“They must have disabled the antennas,” Walter said.

“Sir, What about the emergency transmitters on 16?” Sam said.

“Good idea,” Hammond said. Sam got to her feet, ready to accompany him. He shook his head. “You stay here, Major.”

“Sir?”

“Hold the gate,” he ordered. “No one is to go off world. Walter and I will make it to 16.” The look Walter shot his CO showed that he didn’t quite share the general’s certainty.

“Sir, with all due respect, we don’t know how many hostiles there are.”

“That’s why you will stay here. There’s no need for all three of us to get captured. Besides, if I know Colonel O’Neill it’s just a matter of time before he gives up waiting for the all clear and comes back down.”

Sam grinned and shrugged. “True.”

“Hold the gate, Major. Whatever you need to do.”

He and Walter left the room, climbing up the circular stairs, presumably to retrieve the general’s weapon from his desk and Sam sat down at the console. “Whatever I need to do,” she said to herself as she began to type. She needed to lock out the gate, and better than Walter had. Who knew how many hostiles there were or what access they had. For all she knew, any one of them could have high security access. Heck, Makepeace had the base destruct codes. The only way she could be certain that the gate was locked out was to lock it out with a code that no one else had access to.

She changed her code and then locked out every other code but hers. Now she just needed to lower and lock out the bulk heads and the gate would be as secure as she could make it. Intent upon her task she didn’t notice the person bounding up the stairs. In the same instant that she realized she wasn’t alone she finished her typing, smacking the enter key. She reached for her weapon and pushed back from the console. The intruder fired and she felt a stinging sensation on her right arm as she fired back.

He ducked behind a console and she got to her feet, trying to get to cover. “I need her alive,” the intruder said and she realized that she wasn’t alone. She spun and found herself staring directly down the barrel of a gun. The man she had been fighting with took the pistol from the other one, motioning for him to get to the console. “Open the gate,” he ordered.

“I’m trying. The codes have been changed,” his companion said.

“What did you do?” he growled at her. In one of those odd moments of time, she saw his finger tighten on the trigger. Noted that his nails were ragged and that there was a faint semi-circle of dirt under each nail. She saw small scratches on one knuckle and the scattering of curly dark hair between a couple of them. She saw a speck of dust on the end of the barrel, not nearly enough to cause a misfire but it was there. Just like the serial number wasn’t there, only a narrow patch of etching where acid had been used to remove it.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, her eyes darting to his name tape. Kahler. It probably wasn’t his real name – people that used untraceable weapons rarely used their real names but it was better than asshole.

“What did you do to Wade?” Kahler asked, motioning towards the man she’d shot.

“I found him that way.”

“Right. Check him out.” The second man left the console and checked on the tranquilized man. 

“Alive but out of it,” he reported.

“Untie him,” Kahler ordered, pushing her to sit in a chair. The other man did as he was told and soon stood up, the necktie in his hand. Kahler gestured towards her and the man came forward. He yanked her hands out and she winced when he pulled her arm. A quick glance revealed a blood stain. So that’s what the stinging was. Lovely. 

The second man, Riley bound her hands, jerking the navy polyester tie into a tight knot. “Find out where the others are and get the stuff down here,” Kahler ordered as soon as he was done.

“The gate?”

“Go!” Kahler said. Riley obediently left the room. As he did Kahler moved to stand in front of her. He leaned over, forcing her to lean back in the chair. “Open the gate,” he ordered.

“I already told you—“

His hand sprung out and his fingers wrapped around her neck, squeezing slightly. “I don’t have time to play games. Open the gate,” he said, his voice deadly calm.

“No,” she gasped.

He tightened his fingers, pinching her airway. She raised her foot and kicked out, her boot connecting solidly with his leg. He grunted and fell on top of her, sending both of them to the floor. She pushed him off her and rolled away, trying to get some distance. He lunged for her and grabbed her arm, his fingers digging into the bullet wound with crushing force. She cried out and black started to creep at the edges of her vision. Her neck arched back and for half a second she thought she was hallucinating.

She kicked her legs and brought up her good arm, smashing Kahler in the chin. He reared back and she pulled her arm free, reaching up to pull the pistol free from under the console. Survival overriding thought, she flicked off the safety and fired two shots. Kahler flew backwards and slumped against the far console, his fixed gaze and spreading blood stain telling her that she didn’t need to worry about him anymore.

“Hell of a place to stick your side arm, Walter,” she muttered. Remembering that the situation still wasn’t secure she got to her feet, her bound hands and the throbbing pain in her arm making it awkward at best. Flicking the safety back on the gun she brought her hands up to her mouth and used her teeth to pick at the knot.

There were really not enough sharp edges around here, she thought as she struggled to loosen the tie. There should be a tool. Bondage removal….no, not bondage. People would freak out. Restraint Removal Device. That sounded better. Of course, to prove the need they’d have to document just how often they’d need it and….footsteps. She heard footsteps. She abandoned her efforts and aimed her weapon at the door. “Ok, round two,” she said to herself.

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Jack led Daniel and Teal’c through the empty halls of the SGC torn between enjoying and being moderately freaked out by the emptiness of the halls. He tried to tell himself that it was the oddity of the empty halls that accounted for the knot in the pit of his stomach.

It felt like something was wrong and he could not shake the feeling.

“It’s not even this quiet in the middle of the night,” Daniel said. “Don’t you think so, Teal’c?”

“It is indeed not this quiet normally,” Teal’c said.

“Yeah, well I prefer a bit of background noise,” Jack said. He glanced at his teammates. “If we happen to find Hammond taking a nap we’re going to keep it a secret,” he warned even as he acknowledged the ridiculousness of the thought.

He walked into the control room, barely having time to frown at the sight of the blast doors being down before he stared down the barrel of a pistol.

“For crying out loud, Carter,” he said as Daniel and Teal’c almost bumped into his back. In an instant he took in the sight of two men lying on the floor and his second in command aiming a pistol at his head. “Is this a private party or can anyone crash in?” he asked as she lowered the weapon. Her brief glare and eye roll confirmed to him that the situation was at least somewhat under control. 

“More the merrier,” she quipped.

Jack nodded towards the fallen men and Teal’c moved to check on them while Jack took the pistol from Sam. “Sit rep,” Jack said as Daniel moved to untie Sam’s hands.

“I’m not sure how many there are. There were two taking things out of a storeroom on 21 and bringing them down here to take through the gate. That guy had the general and Walter hostage. After he was taken care of, the general tried to get help but the radio wouldn’t work so they headed up to sixteen and the emergency transmitters.” While she talked, Daniel untied her hands and she used her bandaged left hand to cradle her right arm. Whatever had happened, she didn’t seem too injured but Jack added dragging her to the infirmary to his to do list. Teal’c held out his hand and Daniel shrugged, handing the Jaffa the much abused tie to restrain the surviving hostile.

“How many are there?” Jack asked.

“I’m not sure, sir. At least five. One left the control room and I still haven’t seen the two that I saw on 21,” she said.

Jack nodded. “The gate?”

She shook her head. “It’s locked out. That’s what we were having a little disagreement over.” She motioned towards the dead man.

Jack nodded, running strategies through his head. “Well, three or thirty, we’re not taking them on with one pistol and a zat.”

“Don’t forget the tranquilizer gun,” Daniel said, holding up the rifle and earning a glare.

“T, you stay here, hold the gate with Carter. Daniel and I will raid the armory, come back here and regroup before we go find these guys.”

“Colonel, I think I have a better idea.”

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Riley hurried down the hall, resisting the urge to break into a run. Urgency bubbled in his gut and he couldn’t think about much beyond getting done and getting the hell out of the base before they got rounded up and sent to Leavenworth.

It wasn’t supposed to go down like this. It was supposed to be simple. As soon as the base was empty, haul the stuff down to the gate room, toss it through, blend back in as everyone files back down, go home, collect his payment and book one way ticket to a nice sunny place with no extradition.

Instead it had all gone to hell. Now he just wanted to get this load through the gate and hope it was enough so that he still got paid and he could make a run for it.

“Come on you two. They are not going to stay up top forever,” he prodded.

They turned the corner and Riley saw the shimmering blue reflection of the gate on the wall outside the gate room. “Come on guys, just a couple more minutes and we are home…” He turned the corner into the gate room and came to a dead stop. “Free,” he squeaked as the head of a staff weapon snapped open, aiming right between his eyes. Riley raised his hands in the air as he heard the click and snap of weapons at his back.

“Why can’t we get Jaffa to catch themselves?” O’Neill said, stepping out from behind the gate. He made a thumbs up gesture towards the security cameras and Riley knew that it was over. 

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

“These morons may have caught themselves, it’s too bad they don’t interrogate themselves too,” Jack said, strolling into the infirmary. People walked down the halls behind him and she knew that the personnel had finally all made it back down. 

“Are they being difficult again?” she asked, immersing herself in his flippant attitude. She knew why he did it. Flippancy allowed you to put some distance between the present and your emotions. And that’s what she needed at the moment, a little distance. A little time to process and deal and handle. There’d be fallout later, and she’d deal with it then…later.

“Annoyingly,” he said, seating himself on the gurney opposite hers. She was sitting on one of the treatment beds, her feet dangling over the edge. Her right arm was in a sling and a thick bandage covered the wound. “Although we did find out a lot of things on our own.” She frowned. “Security cameras don’t have to be manned to work,” he explained. “There was only the five of them. We sent a team through to where they dialed. Found a few thing, but they obviously dumped and ran.”

“Any idea who they are?”

Jack shook his head. “Their ID’s have been scrubbed. They didn’t exist until a few weeks ago. “

“Then how did they get through security to get down here?”

Jack shrugged. “We haven’t put that together yet. Probably Makepeace. Needless to say there’ll be some revision of security in the very near future.” He glanced towards the door as one of the strike teams walked by. “They’re done checking all the closets but scuttlebutt has it that everyone’s background check will be gone over with a fine toothed comb. And they’re going to be a hell of a lot more selective on who all they let get assigned here.”

Heels clicked on the tile floor and Jack saw Janet walk back into the room, a small bottle in her right hand. “Here you go,” she said, handing the bottle off to Sam.

“Dealing drugs again, Doc?” Jack asked.

“You know it, sir,” she answered. She turned back to Sam. “The graze in and of itself wasn’t that bad. But there is some significant bruising and tearing. It’ll be a bit sore for a while.”

“You don’t say,” Sam muttered.

“Are you here to play taxi, Colonel?” Janet asked.

“Have truck, will travel,” he said, fully expecting the request. He turned to Sam. “You have the next forty-eight hours off so might as well enjoy them.”

“You’ve got to be busy, sir. Daniel—“

“Had already left in search of food,” Jack interrupted. “He and Teal’c are going to meet us at my place in an hour.”

“Sir…”

“Come on, Carter. You’re not going to make some poor airman drive you when you have a ride ready and willing.” He slid off the gurney. “Daniel took your car to my place so I’ll get you there, we’ll eat, he’ll take you home and everything else just works itself out.”

She sighed. “Sure, sounds good,” she said, forcing enthusiasm that she didn’t really feel. She just wasn’t in the mood for team building or camaraderie tonight. Now more than before she just wanted a quiet evening in her sweats, drowning her sorrows in a pint of ice cream. She slid off the bed. “I just need to get a few things.”

“Lead on.” He followed her to her lab and stood by the door as she downloaded a few files then offered to carry the laptop as she shut down her various machines. Less than half an hour after leaving the infirmary, they were on the surface and walking across the parking lot to his truck. They got into the vehicle in silence and Jack started to make his way down the winding road from the mountain.

Sam stared out the window, her brain still trying to reconcile the normalcy surrounding them with the extraordinary circumstances under Cheyenne Mountain. Fast food restaurants and strip malls flashed by and she felt herself relax. Janet had already given her a pain killer shot when she treated the wound and Sam let the buzz wash over her.

“I can hear you thinking from here,” Jack said.

“Nothing important,” she replied, still staring out the window.

Jack stopped at a red light and looked over at his passenger. He swore he could feel the tension vibrating off her. She didn’t want to be in his truck any more than she wanted to be in the control room earlier today. “You know, Thor didn’t give me a choice,” he said, almost as surprised as her when the words crossed his lips.

“Sir?” She looked back at him and frowned. The car behind them honked and he moved through the intersection. 

“I either busted the rogues or Thor cut us off,” he explained.

“Sir, I get following orders. I don’t have an issue with you following orders,” she said, blaming the drugs for her candor. She sighed and turned towards him in the car seat. “If there is anything about the whole mess that ticks me off….I should have known you were faking it.”

“What?” Jack pulled off onto a side road and parked his truck. “What the hell do you mean?”

“Three years. Three years and all the crap we’ve been through I should have known that you were working some angle. But I didn’t and…”

“Good,” Jack said. “I had the damndest time getting them to trust me. If they’d even suspected that I faking it they’d have pushed me off a cliff. I knew if I could fool you guys, I could fool them.”

“Still—“

“Carter, I did black ops for over ten years,” he said. “Wouldn’t have lasted if I wasn’t good at it.”

He put the truck in gear and pulled back out into traffic, signaling that he was done talking. She shifted in her seat and turned her attention back out the window. 

 

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

 

Daniel pulled some bills out of his pocket and handed them to the delivery driver in exchange for three flat cardboard boxes. The young man shoved the bills into his pocket and hurried back to his car as Jack’s truck pulled into the driveway. “Finally,” Daniel muttered, shifting the boxes in his hands as the heat from the pizzas penetrated the material. “Bout time you two got here,” he said as he walked towards the truck. 

“Traffic,” Jack said, shutting the door. He pulled a laptop bag that Daniel knew had to be Sam’s out of the back while she got out of the passenger side.

“It took me a few minutes to get my stuff,” she said.

Daniel shrugged. “Perfect timing anyway.” He motioned with the pizzas.

“Good, let’s eat.”

The three of them walked inside and the next few minutes was familiar chaos of four adults grabbing food and serving food, getting drinks and generally making themselves at home. “What are the chances we’re finally done with rogues and people sneaking through the gate?” Daniel asked around a mouthful of pepperoni pizza.

Jack shook his head and took a pull off his beer. “We may have gotten some of the foot soldiers but the head of the snake is still out there.”

“You believe that there is a goa’uld presence?” Teal’c asked.

Sam smiled. “He means we still don’t know who’s behind it. Someone pulled a lot of strings to get these guys assigned to the SGC and to get them the information they needed to run their op.” She set her half-eaten pizza on the plate. “These guys knew exactly what storeroom the items were in. Which means they had to have someone from the SGC tell them where to go and get them the access cards.”

“Maybe Colonel Makepeace did it,” Daniel suggested.

“Maybe,” Jack said. “We’ll have to ask him. Although he’s not very cooperative.” He got to his feet and walked into the kitchen, returning with two bottles of beer and two bottles of water. 

“Teal’c could ask him,” Daniel suggested, taking the bottle of beer from Jack.

“I would indeed relish the opportunity to converse with the former colonel,” Teal’c said, taking a large bite of the pizza.

“We could probably sell tickets,” Sam said, reaching over and picking up Daniels’ beer.

“Hey!”

“You’re driving later,” she said, handing him her water.

“And you’re on drugs,” he retorted.

“I don’t care,” she said. Daniel looked to Jack who simply shrugged.

“O’Neill, will there be another attempt to discern the source of the betrayal?” Teal’c asked.

Jack shook his head. “We try to dig these people out, they’ll just burrow in deeper. “

“We need to wait for them to screw up and then take them down,” Sam said, setting her pizza aside.

“Sam?”

“She’s right,” Jack said. “I’m pretty sure Kinsey is behind it, but without ironclad proof he’ll just slip away.”

“Senator Kinsey?” Daniel asked. “Ok, I know he’s a nut but—“

“He would make an excellent goa’uld,” Teal’c said. “He possesses the power and fanaticism to conceive and empower such a plan.”

“And he’d have the connections to cook up ID’s,” Sam said. “Not to mention enough followers to do his dirty work for him.”

“Teal’c’s right, he is a goa’uld,” Daniel joked.

“He’ll slip up,” Sam said. “He’s arrogant and self-righteous and full of himself, and he’ll screw up. His ego will get the better of him and he’ll overplay his hand.”

“You’re just a ray of sunshine,” Jack said.

“But Major Carter is correct,” Teal’c said. “Senator Kinsey’s arrogance will guide him to make unwise decisions. If we are vigilant, we will be able to take advantage of the situation.”

“Which is what we’re going to do,” Jack said, setting his plate down and leaning back in his chair, the bottle of beer balanced on his knee. “Until then, we do our job. We take care of business and kick some goa’uld ass and everything goes back to normal.”

“I can do normal,” Daniel said.

“I kinda miss normal,” Sam said.

“There is an appeal to a predictable sequence of events,” Teal’c said.

“Normal,” Jack said, holding up his bottle.

“Normal,” they echoed.

~Fin~

**Author's Note:**

> This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. The original characters, situations, and story are the property of the author. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author


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